Information processing apparatus, operating system, and operating method for information processing apparatus

ABSTRACT

An information processing apparatus for operating a vehicle, when the vehicle is running, and an application is instructed through voice. An in-running operation acceptance/denial list is produced, i.e., a list of words meaning an operation to be inhibited from being executed during the time when the vehicle is running. A command acceptance/denial executing portion of the onboard apparatus determines if the command corresponding to the content, which a user speaks, can be operated or not, during the time when the vehicle is running, by referring this list and a title of the command operable through voices included in the application, and when the vehicle is running, an execution of that command is instructed to an application controller portion, if being determined operable, by referring to a running condition of the vehicle, and if being determined inoperable, the execution of that command is not instructed to the application controller portion.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/149,173 filed on Jan. 7, 2014 and claims priority under 35U.S.C.§119 of Japanese Patent Applications No. 2013-003266 filed on Jan.11, 2013, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, asound operating system, and a sound or voice operating method for theinformation processing apparatus, and in particular, relates to aninformation processing apparatus, a sound operating system, and a soundoperating method for the information processing apparatus, to be mountedon a vehicle, being suitable for conducting an operation of the vehiclewith safety, when instructing an operation of an application throughsounds during when the vehicle is running.

A car navigation system (hereinafter, also being called “an onboardapparatus”) is that for processing map data therein, so as to provideguide information up to a destination to a user, i.e., a driver, etc. Inparticular, in recent years are developed an onboard apparatus forproviding real-time traffic jam information while connection with acenter system through communication, etc., via a portable telephone(e.g., a mobile phone), or an onboard apparatus, mounting a function forcooperating with Smartphone, which is rapidly spreads in recent years,and they are put into a practical use. As an example of the latter,there is already known such onboard apparatus that can provideinformation to the driver, effectively, on a screen much larger thanthat of the Smartphone, by displaying an output video of theapplication, which is executed on the Smartphone, on a screen of thatonboard apparatus, through a wire cable, etc.

In general, in case of such equipments to be applied within the vehicle,such as, the onboard apparatus, etc., it is necessary that the equipmentcan be operated, with safety, by the driver during the time of drivingthe vehicle. For that reason, in the onboard apparatus is installed aprocess for suppressing a certain kind of operation and/or display ofthe information, during the time when the vehicle is running, for thepurpose of protecting the driver in driving operation from beingdistracted in an attention.

For example, in the following Patent Document 1 is disclosed atechnology for avoiding the driver from being attended to the screen ofthe onboard apparatus, by displaying the screen in a reduced size, incase of the application, to which no authentication information isgiven, while giving the authentication information to the application, asafety of which is confirmed during the running of the vehicle, for thepurpose of maintaining the safety when the user execute various kinds ofapplications, which she/he bought freely, on the onboard apparatus.

Also, studies are made widely, on the technologies for operating theonboard apparatus, not restricting the operation of the driver, as is inthe Patent Document 1, but through sounds or voices. For example, in thefollowing Patent Document 2 is disclosed a technology for executing anapplication on a portable (e.g., mobile) terminal by means of aninstruction made through the voices. With this technology, a table isheld, which stores the information for indicating a title of a functionexecutable and on whether it can be executed through the voices or not,wherein the voices generated by the driver are converted into a text,and if the text converted coincides with the title of the function,which is held in the table mentioned above, then the applicationcorresponding thereto is executed.

Prior Art Documents Patent Documents

-   [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2011-219058; and-   [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2010-130223.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The display apparatus for use in vehicle of the Patent Document 1 of theconventional art mentioned above is devised for keeping the safety ofdriving the vehicle, by processing the screen display, even if executinga program, the safety of which is not guaranteed, and the PatentDocument 2 discloses therein a system for enabling to operate theonboard apparatus, through the voices of the driver in her/his driving.

However, the technologies disclosed in the Patent Documents 1 and 2mentioned above have the following problems.

First of all, in case of the technology described in the Patent Document1, realistically, it is impossible to make confirmation upon the safetyduring the driving of the vehicle, for all of the applications availablein the world. The operations and/or the contents of display ofinformation to be restricted during the time of driving are defined, ineach country or area, in the form of guidelines, and installingfunctions for following all of the guidelines of the each country andthe area needs a lot of works. Conventionally, each of the onboardapparatuses makers installs the function for following the guidelines,for the application(s) developed by itself; however, realistically, itis impossible to do the same works for the applications, which aredeveloped by the third parties.

Also, in case of the technology described in the Patent Document 2,there is a problem that the application can be operated through thevoices, irrespective of the time of driving or not. For example, in caseof an application for viewing/listening moving pictures, the movingpictures are reproduced through the operation of voices, irrespective ofthe time of driving or not, and this distracts the attention of thedriver, i.e., a cause of reason of an accident. In the Patent Document 2is disclosed a mechanism for the user to determine if the applicationcan be executed or not (i.e., acceptance/denial), through the voices(see FIG. 5 and columns [0072]-[0075]); however, since the user canchange the determination freely, therefore, this is not effective to theuser who does not take the safety during the time of driving into theconsideration. There can be also considered a means for determining theacceptance/denial of the operation through voices, not by the user, butby the onboard apparatus maker; however, because of the reason same tothat in the Patent Document 1, it is impossible to define theacceptance/denial of the operation through voices by each of the onboardapparatus makers, upon the applications, which are developed by thethird parties.

According to the present invention, being accomplished for dissolvingsuch problems as mentioned above, an object thereof is to provide aninformation processing apparatus, being an onboard apparatus to bemounted on a vehicle, for enabling an operation of the vehicle, withsafety, during the time when the vehicle is running, when an operationof an application is instructed through voices.

For dissolving such problems as mentioned above, according to thepresent invention, it is the most principle feature that a list of wordsmeaning an operation undesirable to be executed during the time when thevehicle is running is produced, and thereby it is determined if thecommand corresponding to the content spoken by a user can be operated ornot, during the time when the vehicle is running, by referring this listand a title of command operable through voices, being equipped with oneach application. As a concrete example thereof, to the application forconducting reproduction of moving pictures when a user speaks“reproduce” through the voices, a list is produced, including“reproduce” therein, as a word of meaning the operation undesirable tobe executed during the time when the vehicle is running, and therebyrestricting “reproduce” from being executed through the voices duringthe time when the vehicle is running. Herein, the title of the commandoperable through the voices mentioned above is obtained from the titles,which are set on buttons, etc., displayed on a screen of theapplication, for example. In more details, in case where a button havingthe title “reproduce” is disposed on the screen, which the applicationdisplays, the title of the buttons included in the screen, withutilizing a property obtaining function, etc., of a GUI component, whichan execution environment of the application provides, when that screenis displayed on the onboard apparatus, and this is memorized as thetitle of the command operable through the voices. In case where what isdisplayed on the button is not the text title, such as, “reproduce”,etc., but is a mark meaning reproduction, then not the content of whichis displayed, but an alternative text set on the button may be obtained,as the title of the command operable though the voices.

Also, according to the present invention, it is a second feature in thatplural numbers of restriction rules, each being indicative if anoperation is executable or not, during the time of running, are producedcorresponding to guidelines of each of countries and areas, whileproducing plural numbers of lists of words indicative of operationsundesired to be executed when the vehicle is running, corresponding tothe languages, and wherein selection of which word list and whichrestriction rule should be applied, is made depending on an area wherethe onboard apparatus lies. For example, when restricting a reproductionoperation, “reproduce” in Japanese is described in the list, if thelanguage used by a user is Japanese, while “Play” is described in thelist when the used language is English, and further, if execution of thereproduction operation is restricted in each country, i.e., in Japan andU.S., is also described as the restriction rule. The lists and therestriction rules of the inhibited words, for use of every languages andareas may be stored in the onboard apparatus, in advance, or may bestored in the policy distributing server, which is connected with theonboard apparatus through a communication network, so that the policydistributing server can respond an appropriate one depending on theinformation of the used language and the area, which is transmitted fromthe onboard apparatus, responding to the request from the onboardapparatus, in the structure thereof.

For achieving such function as was mentioned above, according to thepresent invention, there is provided an information processingapparatus, to be mounted on a vehicle, for conducting an operation ofapplication software through voices, during time when said vehicle isrunning, comprising: an application controller portion, which isconfigured to execute said application software; a running conditionobtaining portion, which is configured to obtain a running condition ofsaid vehicle; a policy information recording portion, which isconfigured to record policy information, being information relating tooperation, which is inhibited from being executed during the time whensaid vehicle is running; an in-running operation acceptance/denial listproducing portion, which is configured to produce an in-runningoperation acceptance/denial list inductive of whether a command for saidapplication software can be operated or not, during the time when saidvehicle is running, by referring to said policy information and a listof command operated from said application software; an in-runningoperation acceptance/denial list recording portion, which is configuredto record said in-running operation acceptance/denial list therein; avoice input portion, which is configured to input voice data, which auser speaks; a text converting portion, which is configured to analyzesaid voice data, so as to convert into text data; and a commandexecution acceptance/denial determining portion, which is configured todetermine if the command spoken by said user can be operated or not,during the time when said vehicle is running, which is recorded as saidtext data, by referring to said text data and said in-running operationacceptance/denial list, wherein if being operable, instructing anexecution of said command to said application controller portion, whilebeing inoperable, not instructing the execution of said command to saidapplication controller portion.

Also, the configuration of a policy distributing server comprises: arestriction rule recording portion, which is configured to record arestriction rule, being defined for each place where said informationprocessing apparatus is used, to be applied to the command for operatingsaid application software; an inhibited word list recording portion,which is configured to record inhibited word lists, being defined forlanguages, separately, in relation with the command of said restrictionrule; a restriction rule selector portion, which is configured to selectsaid restriction rule upon basis of information indicative of the placewhere said information processing apparatus is used; and an inhibitedwordlist selector portion, which is configured to select the inhibitedword list upon basis of information of the language used by the user.

And, an onboard apparatus transmits the equipment information and theuser information to the policy distributing server.

The restriction rule selector portion of said policy distributing serverselects said restriction rule, upon basis of said equipment informationreceived from said information processing apparatus, the inhibited wordlist selector portion of said policy distributing server selects saidinhibited word list, upon basis of said user information received fromsaid information processing apparatus, and said policy distributingserver transmits said restriction rule and said inhibited word list tosaid information processing apparatus, as the policy information.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide theinformation processing apparatus, such as, an onboard apparatus to bemounted on a vehicle, etc., for enabling an operating of the vehicle,with safety, when operation of an application is instructed through thevoices during the time when the vehicle is running.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

Those and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more readily apparent from the following detaileddescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a total configuration view of a voice operating system,according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration view of an onboard apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration view of a policy distributing server;

FIG. 4 is a view for showing a dataflow and a function configuration ofthe onboard apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a view for showing a dataflow and a function configuration ofthe policy distributing server;

FIG. 6 is a view for showing the structure of a database, which is heldby the policy distributing server 300;

FIG. 7 is a view for showing the format of a command list 210 and anoperation acceptance/denial list during running 220, which are used inthe onboard apparatus 100;

FIG. 8 is a view for showing an example of the screen when trying toexecute viewing/listening of the moving pictures on an application ofthe voice operating system;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for showing processes until when a moving pictureviewing/listening screen 112 b is displayed after pushing down a movingpicture viewing/listening button 1212;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for showing the details of process in a stepS110, i.e., a command list producing process;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for showing the details of a step S130, i.e., theprocess for producing the operation acceptance/denial list duringrunning 220;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for showing a flow of processes for executing theoperation through voices after pushing down a voice operation startingbutton 1214 on the moving picture viewing/listening screens 112 a and112 b;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for showing the details of a step S150, i.e., theprocess for determining acceptance/denial of execution of a command;

FIGS. 14A and 14B are views for showing an example of a popup messagewhen viewing/listening the moving pictures for the voice operation;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart for showing a flow of processes for obtaining arestriction rule 230 from the policy distributing server 300, in a firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart for showing a flow of processes for obtaining aninhibited word list 230 a from the policy distributing server 300;

FIG. 17 is a view for showing an example of the popup message whenobtaining the policy information for the voice operation;

FIG. 18 is a total configuration view of the voice operating system,according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a hardware configuration view of a portable (mobile)telephone terminal;

FIG. 20 is a view for showing dataflow and functional configuration ofthe portable (mobile) telephone terminal and the onboard apparatus,according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart for showing a flow of processes for obtaining therestriction rule 230 from the policy distributing server 300, in thesecond embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a total configuration view of the voice operating system,according to a third embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 23 is a view for showing dataflow and functional configuration ofthe portable (mobile) telephone terminal and the onboard apparatus,according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, each embodiment according to the present invention will befully explained by referring to one of FIGS. 1 through 23 attachedherewith.

<Embodiment 1>

Hereinafter, explanation will be given on a voice operating system,according to a first embodiment of the present invention, by referringto one of FIGS. 1 to 17.

The voice operating system of the present embodiment is that forrestricting an operation, which is undesirable to be executed during therunning, when operating an application software (hereinafter, also beingcalled only, “application”), which is operated on a car navigation,through voices. In more details, a command title or name, beingcorresponded to operation buttons displayed on a screen of theapplication, is extracted as a title or name of the command, which canbe operated through voices, and in addition thereto, a list of words,which means an undesirable operation to be executed during the running,is distributed from a server apparatus, wherein determination is made oneach command, if it can be executed or not, by comparing the title of avoice operating command, which is extracted from the application, with aword, which is included in the list received from the server apparatus.

First of all, explanation will be given on the configuration of thevoice operating system, according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention, by referring to one of FIGS. 1 to 5.

FIG. 1 is a total configuration view of a voice operating system,according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration view of an onboard apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration view of a policy distributing server.

FIG. 4 is a view for showing a dataflow and a function configuration ofthe onboard apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a view for showing a dataflow and a function configuration ofthe policy distributing server.

The voice operating system according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention, is a system for enabling a user of a vehicle 1 tooperate the onboard apparatus 100, which is mounted on the vehicle 1,through voices, and it is constructed with, including the vehicle havingthe onboard apparatus 100 and a policy distributing server 300, which isconnected with a base station 70 through a global network 50.

The onboard apparatus 100, in the present embodiment, communicates withthe policy distributing server 300, which is connected with the globalnetwork 50, through a radio or wireless communication between the basestation 70. The policy distributing server 300 is a server fordistributing policy information 280 relating the voice operation, to theonboard apparatus 100.

The onboard apparatus 100 issues a request of requiring obtainment ofthe policy information, periodically or when the user explicitlyinstructs that. The base station 70 is radio or wireless facilities forrelaying the global network 50, through the wireless communication ofthe onboard apparatus 100.

And, the base station 70 transmits the request to the policy server 300,which is connected with the global network 50. The policy distributingserver 300 transmits the policy information responding to the request tothe onboard apparatus 100 as a response.

Herein, the global network 50 means a global communication network, suchas, a telephone network or the Internet network, etc.

The onboard apparatus 100 restricts operation of an application 500through voices, by referring to policy information 280 received.

Next, explanation will be given on the hardware configuration of theonboard apparatus 100, by referring to FIG. 2.

As is shown in FIG. 2, the on board apparatus 100 is constructed with aCPU 20, a ROM 21, a RAM 22, a wireless communication interface 23, apositioning sensor 24, a gyro sensor 25, a display device 26, anoperating device 27, an auxiliary memory device 28, a LAN communicationinterface 29, a camera 30, a radio tuner 31, a television tuner 32, amicrophone 33 and a speaker 34, as the hardware thereof.

The CPU (Central Processing Unit 20) is a unit forcalculating/controlling, i.e., for controlling each portion of theonboard apparatus 100, and for executing application software of a carnavigation, which is loaded on the RAM 22.

The ROM (Read Only Memory) 21 is a memory device for exclusive use ofreadout, to which control programs and so on are written in.

The RAM (Read Access Memory) 22 is a memory device, for loading aprogram, which is memorized in the auxiliary memory device 28, to bestored therein, temporarily, or for memorizing work data therein.

The wireless communication interface 23 is an interface to connect withan external apparatus, which is connected with the global network 50,through the base station 70, thereby exchanging data.

The positioning sensor 24 is a sensor for measuring a position ofitself, which is indicated by latitude and longitude on the globe.

The gyro sensor 25 is a sensor for measuring an angle and/or an angularvelocity of the vehicle.

The display device 26 is a device for displaying video information tothe user, such as, a liquid crystal display or an organic EL(Electro-Luminescence), etc.

The operating device 27 is a device for the user to operate the onboardapparatus 100 by a finger, such as, a button, a switch, a keyboard, atouch panel, etc.

The auxiliary memory device 28 is a memory device of large capacity, formemorizing application software of the car navigation therein, inaddition to various kinds of data, such as, a map database, the policyinformation 280, voice data, moving picture data, etc., and is made upwith a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or a SDD (Solid State Drive), for example.

The LAN interface 29 is a device for connecting with an onboard network41, thereby taking data, indicating a running condition of the vehicle 1and/or an internal condition, from the onboard network 41, into aninside thereof.

Also, the onboard apparatus 100 is also connected with a vehicle signalline 40, and is able to take the running condition and the internalcondition of the vehicle 1 therein.

The camera 30 is an optical apparatus for photographing an externalenvironment of the vehicle 1, to be taken therein.

The radio tuner 31 receives radio wavers, short-waves, middle-waves,ultra short-waves, on an antenna, to be tuned, and thereby for listeningit as a program. In particular, when receiving a FM multiplex broadcast,traffic information can be received from VICS (Vehicle Information andCommunication System) (®).

The television tuner 32 is an apparatus for receiving the radio waves ofthe ultra short-waves, to be tuned, and thereby reproducing a movingpicture as a TV program.

The microphone 33 is a device for collecting voices of the user.

The speaker 34 is a device for outputting music information, voiceguidance when guiding a route, and an operating sound, etc.

Next, explanation will be given on the hardware configuration of thepolicy distributing server 300, by referring to FIG. 3.

The hardware configuration of the policy distributing server 300, as isshown in FIG. 3, includes a CPU 81, a RAM 82, a display interface 83, aninput/output interface 84, a network interface 85, and an auxiliarymemory device interface 86, which are connected with each other througha bus.

On a display device 90 is displayed a monitor and/or a result of outputof operating condition. With the input/output interface 84 is connectedinput/output devices, such as, a keyboard 91 and a mouse 92, etc., and amanager inputs a command or the like from those input/output devices.With the network interface 85 is connected the global network 50, thencommunication is conducted through this interface between the externalapparatuses. With the auxiliary memory device interface 86 is connecteda memory device, such as, a hard disk drive 93 for storing data and/orprograms thereon. There may be a case where the hard disk drive 93 isconnected on an array, thereby building up a disc array.

The policy information 280, a database management program for policydistribution, and/or OS are stored on the hard disk drive 93, and theyare loaded on the RAM 82 when being executed, and are executed by theCPU 81.

Next, explanation will be given on a dataflow and function configurationof the onboard apparatus 100, by referring to FIG. 4.

The onboard apparatus 100 comprises, as is shown in FIG. 4, anapplication control portion 110, a screen display portion 120, anin-running operation acceptance/denial list producer portion 130, anin-running operation acceptance/denial list recording portion 191, avoice input portion 181, a text converter portion 140, a runningcondition obtaining portion 182, a command execution acceptance/denialdetermining portion 150, a user ID obtaining portion 183, an equipmentID obtaining portion 184, a policy information renewal portion 160, apolicy information recording portion 192, and a communication portion170.

The application control portion 110 is a portion for producing a commandlist 210 (will be mentioned later) while extracting a command, which canbe operated through voices, from the application 500, and for executingthe operation through voices for the application 500.

The screen display portion 120 is a portion for displaying an executionscreen of the application on the display device 26.

The in-running operation acceptance/denial list producer portion 130 isa portion, for producing an in-running operation acceptance/denial list(will be mentioned later), to be used in determination ofacceptance/denial of the operation during the time when the vehicle isrunning, for each voice operation command.

The in-running operation acceptance/denial list recording portion 191 isa portion, for recording an in-running operation acceptance/denial listproduced, therein.

The voice input portion 181 is a portion, for inputting voice data,which the user utters.

The text converter portion 140 is a portion, for converting the voicedata inputted into text.

The running condition obtaining portion 182 is a portion, for obtainingthe running condition of the vehicle from the vehicle signal line 40 orthe onboard network 41.

The command execution acceptance/denial determining portion 150 is aportion, for determining acceptance/denial of execution of the voiceoperation command, which the text indicates.

The user ID obtaining portion 183 is a portion, for obtaining a user ID,which is identification information of the user who is using the onboardapparatus 100.

The equipment ID obtaining portion 184 is a portion, for obtaining anequipment ID 1000, which is an identifier of the onboard apparatus 100.

The policy information renewal portion 160 is a portion, for obtainingthe policy information 280, including a restriction rule 230 (will bementioned later) and an inhibited word list 240 (will be mentionedlater), from the policy distributing server 300, by referring the userID 183 and the equipment ID 1000.

The policy information recording portion 192 is a portion, for recordingtherein the policy information obtained.

The communication portion 170 is a portion, for conducting communicationbetween the policy distributing server 300.

Next, explanation will be given on dataflow and function configurationof the policy distributing server 300.

The policy distributing server 300 is constructed with, as is shown inFIG. 5, a restriction rule selector portion 310, an equipmentinformation database 250, an area determining portion 320, a restrictionrule database 230 a, a restriction rule obtaining portion 330, aninhibited word list selector portion 340, a user information database260, a used language determining portion 350, an inhibited word listdatabase 240 a, an inhibited word list obtaining portion 360 and acommunication portion 370.

The restriction rule selector portion 310 is a portion, for selectingthe restriction rule 230 depending on the content of a policyinformation obtaining request 270, which is received from the onboardapparatus 100.

The equipment information database 250 is a database, for storing theinformation of plural numbers of equipments, including the onboardapparatus 100 therein.

The area determining portion 320 is a portion, for determining an areawhere the onboard apparatus locates, by referring to the equipmentinformation database 250.

The restriction rule database 230 a is a database, for storing thereinplural numbers of restriction rules 230, each of which is defined foreach area.

The restriction rule obtaining portion 330 is a portion, for obtainingthe restriction rule 230 determined, from the restriction rule database230 a.

The inhibited word list selector portion 340 is a portion, for selectingthe inhibited word list, depending on the content of the policyinformation obtaining request 270 received from the onboard apparatus100.

The user information database 260 is a database, for recording theinformation of plural numbers of users, including the user who is usingthe onboard apparatus 100.

The used language determining portion 350 is a portion, for determiningthe language used by the user who is using the onboard apparatus 100, byreferring to the user information database 260.

The inhibited word list database 240 a is a database, for storingtherein plural numbers of inhibited word lists, each of which is definedfor each language.

The inhibited word list obtaining portion 360 is a portion, forobtaining the inhibited word list 240 determined for use of the usedlanguage, from the inhibited word list database 240 a.

The communication portion 370 is a portion for conducting communicationbetween the onboard apparatus 100.

Next, explanation will be given on the data structure to be applied in avoice recognizing system, according to the present invention, byreferring to FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 6 is a view for showing the structure of a database, which is heldby the policy distributing server 300.

FIG. 7 is a view for showing the format of a command list 210 and anoperation acceptance/denial list during running 220, which are used inthe onboard apparatus 100.

The database held by the policy distributing server 300 includes, as isshown in FIG. 6, an equipment information database 250, a userinformation database 260, a restriction rule database 230 a and aninhibited ward list database 240 a.

The equipment information database 250 records therein equipment ID 251,for identifying the equipment, uniquely, and an area 252 of the positionwhere the equipment indicated by the equipment ID 251 is used.

The user information database 260 records therein user ID 261, foridentifying the user, uniquely, and a used language 262 indicating thelanguage used by the user, which the user ID indicates.

The restriction rule database 230 a records plural numbers ofrestriction rules 230, each of which is defined for each area, and inthe figure are described the restriction rules of Japan and EU, and adefault rule, to which the reference should be made when the area is notclear.

The restriction rule 230 records therein operation ID 231 foridentifying the content of operation, and operation acceptance/denial232 indicating if that operation indicated by the operation ID can bemade or not, during the running. An example shown in the figure, and incase of Japan, it is indicated that the operation, the operation ID ofwhich is “OPE1” or “OPE2”, is inhibited from being operated during therunning, but the operation, the operation ID of which is “OPE3”, can beoperated even during the running.

The inhibited ward list database 240 a records therein plural numbers ofthe inhibited word lists 240, which is defined for each language, thefigure shows examples of Japanese and English.

The inhibited word lists 240 records therein an operation ID 241 foridentifying the content of operation, and an inhibited word 242describing one or more pieces of words, which the operation ID 241indicates. In the examples shown in the figure, the operation ID defines“reproduce”, “stop”, etc., as the words for presenting the operation of“OPE1”. Also, the restriction rule 230 and the inhibited word list 240are combines, applying the operation ID as a key.

As the data to be used in the onboard apparatus 100, there are a commandlist 210 and also an in-running operation acceptance/denial list 220, asis shown in FIG. 7, wherein the command list 210 is produced by theapplication controlling part 110 of the onboard apparatus 100, and thein-running operation acceptance/denial list 220 is produced by thein-running operation acceptance/denial list producer portion 130.

The command list 210 stores therein a command title 211, e.g., a line ofcharacters indicating the title of the command, and a command identifier212 for identifying that command, uniquely, within the application 500.

The in-running operation acceptance/denial list 220 stores therein aflag of operation acceptance/denial 223, indicating if it can beoperated or not during the running of the vehicle, in addition to thecommand title 221, similar to the command list 210, and the commandidentifier 222.

Next, explanation will be given on an operation image of a userinterface of the voice operating system, according to the firstembodiment of the present invention, by referring to FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 is a view for showing an example of the screen when trying toexecute viewing/listening of moving pictures on an application of thevoice operating system.

A menu screen 121 shows a screen after starting of the onboard apparatus100, which is displayed on the display device 26. The menu screen 121has a navigation button 1211, a moving picture viewing/listening button1212, a telephone button 1213 and a voice input starting button 1214,corresponding to the function equipped with the onboard apparatus 100.

Among of those, when pushing down the moving picture viewing/listeningbutton 1212 for starting the application 500, for viewing/listening themoving pictures, a moving picture viewing/listening screen 122 a of theapplication is displayed, if the vehicle 1 is in a stopping condition.The moving picture viewing/listening screen 122 a has a contents displayregion 1221, a contents list display region 1222 for displaying a listof contents reproducible, a reproduce button 1223 for startingreproduction of contents, a stop button 1224 for stopping thereproduction of contents, a return button 1225 for turning back to themenu screen 121, and a voice input start button 1214.

On the other hand, when pushing down the moving pictureviewing/listening button 1212 for starting the application 500, forviewing/listening the moving pictures, but if the vehicle 1 is in arunning condition, a moving picture viewing/listening screen 122 b forthe application 500 is displayed. On this moving pictureviewing/listening screen 122 b, comparing to the moving pictureviewing/listening screen 122 a, the contents display region 1221 fordisplaying video contents, the contents list display region 1222 fordisplaying the list of contents, the reproduce button 1223, and the stopbutton 1224 are invalidated to be inoperable, e.g., non-input display,for the purpose of protecting the user from being distracted in her/hisattention. However, the return button 1225 is not invalidated, since itis still operable during the running of vehicle. And, when the userspeaks “return” while pushing down the voice input start button 1214,under the condition where the screen 122 is displayed, then the screenshifts into the menu screen 121 even when the vehicle is in the runningcondition. But, the user speaks (or generates) the command relating tothe moving picture viewing/listening, such as, “reproduce” or “stop”,while pushing down the voice input start button 1214, under thecondition where the screen 122 is displayed, then that command isnullified since it is inhibited from being operated.

The user never pushes down the button(s) relating to the nullifiedcommand(s) through an erroneous operation, since it/they is/aredisplayed “non-input”, and it is also possible to prevent the commandsrelating to the moving picture viewing/listening, which are inhibited,such as, “reproduce” and “stop”, from being spoken by her/him.

Next, explanation will be given on the processes from when the movingpicture viewing/listening button is pushed down until when the movingpicture viewing/listening screen is displayed, by referring to one ofFIGS. 9 to 11.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for showing processes until when a moving pictureviewing/listening screen 112 b is displayed after pushing down themoving picture viewing/listening button 1212.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for showing the details of process in a stepS110, i.e., a command list producing process.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for showing the details of a step S130, i.e., theprocess for producing the in-running operation acceptance/denial list220.

When the user pushes down the moving picture viewing/listening button1212, an instruction of exchanging the screen is transmitted from thescreen display portion 120 to the application controller portion 110,and at timing when displaying the moving picture viewing/listeningscreen 112 b, the application controller portion 110 produces thecommand list 210 (S110).

Next, the in-running operation acceptance/denial list producer portion130 produces the in-running operation acceptance/denial list 220, byreferring to the command list 210 produced and the restriction rule 23and the inhibited word list 240, which are recorded within the policyinformation recording portion 192 (S130).

After producing the in-running operation acceptance/denial list 220,while the application controller portion 110 nullifies the button(s)inoperable on the screen 122 of the application 500 (S111), thein-running operation acceptance/denial list producer portion 130produces the in-running operation acceptance/denial list 220, and thein-running operation acceptance/denial list recording portion 191records the in-running operation acceptance/denial list 220 producedinto the auxiliary memory device 28 (S131).

Explanation will be given on the process in a step 110 of the commandlist producing process, by referring to FIG. 10.

First of all, a recording area of the command list 210 is initializedinto a vacant condition (S1101).

Next, a number of object(s) (e.g., the button(s), etc.) included in thescreen displayed at present (i.e., the moving picture viewing/listeningscreen 122 b) is set to a variable “N” (S1102).

Next, it is determined if “N” is “0” (zero) or not (S1103).

In case where “N” is not “0” (zero), determination is made on whetherthe “Nth” object is a button or not (S1104).

In case where the “Nth” object is the button, a display title and IDinformation of the button are obtained, and are added to the commandtitle 211 and the command identifier 212 of the command list 210,respectively (S1105). For example, it is assumed that the display titleas the object is “reproduce”, of the reproduce button 1223 shown in FIG.8. In this instance, this is set to the command title 211 of the commandlist 210, as “reproduce”. Also, with reproducing equipment of a player,in general, a right-oriented triangle (e.g., “

”) is used, as a mark for indicating “reproduce”, however if defining“right-oriented triangle”, as the display title of that button, and“reproduce” for presenting the function, as an alternative titlethereof, then the alternative title “reproduce” is taken, and that isset to the command title 211 of the command list 210, as “reproduce”.

With this, since a developer can use the display title as the commandtitle, as it is, after bringing the display title and the function ofthe command to be coincident with, then this results to reduce the laborof developing.

Next, a value obtained by subtracting “1” from “N” is set to “N”(S1106), and the process turns back to S1103.

And after repeating the steps from S1103 to S1106, at the time when “N”comes down to “0”, the command list 210 is informed to the in-runningoperation acceptance/denial list producer portion 130, therebycompleting the process (S1107). However, obtaining the number of theobjet(s) in the S1102 mentioned above, and obtaining the “Nth” object inthe S1104, etc., are the functions equipped with, in general, by asoftware library for producing GUI (Graphical User Interface) screen,and for example, in case of the application operable on “Android”, i.e.,OS for Smartphone, they can be obtained by applying “getChildCount( )method” or “getChildAt( ) method”, etc., which are provided through Java(®) language.

Next, explanation will be given on the details of the step S130, e.g.,the process for producing the in-running operation acceptance/deniallist 220, by referring to FIG. 11.

First of all, a line number of the command list 210 produced is set tothe variable “N” (S1301).

Next, it is determined if “N” is “0” (zero) or not (S102).

Next, if “N” is not “0”, then search is made on the inhibited word list240, which is recorded in the policy information recording portion 192(S1303), and checking on whether the “Nth” command title 211 of thecommand list 210 is included or not, within the inhibited words 242 ofthe inhibited word list 240 (S1304).

If there is included the word, coincident with the “Nth” command title211, within the inhibited words 242 of the inhibited word list 240,operation acceptance/denial 232 is obtained, of the operation indicatedby the operation ID during the running of the vehicle, by referring tothat operation ID 241 including the word coincident with, and therestriction rule 23 recorded in the policy information recording portion192 (S1305).

Next, determination is made of whether the operation acceptance/denial232 is “acceptance” or “denial” (S1306), and if it is “denial”, theoperation acceptance/denial 223 of the in-running operationacceptance/denial list 220 is set to “denial” (S1307).

If there can be found no line including the command title 211 within theinhibited word list 240 in the step S1304 mentioned above, or if theoperation acceptance/denial 232, which is obtained in the step S1306mentioned above, is “acceptance”, the operation acceptance/denial 223 ofthe in-running operation acceptance/denial list 220 is set to“acceptance” (S1308).

Next, the value obtained by subtracting “1” from “N” is set to “N”(S1309), and the process is tuned back to S1302.

And, after repeating the steps from S1302 to S1309, repetitively, theprocess is completed at the time when “N” comes down to “0”.

Next, explanation will be given on the process of the onboard apparatus100 when executing the command responding to the voices, which arespoken by the user, by referring to one of FIGS. 12 to 14B. FIG. 12 is aflowchart for showing a flow of processes for executing the operationthrough voices after pushing down the voice operation starting button1214 on the moving picture viewing/listening screens 112 a and 112 b.FIG. 13 is a flowchart for showing the details of a step S150, i.e., theprocess for determining acceptance/denial of execution of a command.FIGS. 14A and 14B are views for showing an example of a popup messagewhen viewing/listening the moving pictures for the voice operation.

When the voice operation starting button 1214 is pushed down, aninstruction of starting the voice operation is transmitted from thescreen display portion 120 to the voice input portion 181. Upon receiptof this, the voice input portion 181 inputs the voices, which the userspeaks, with using the microphone 33.

Next, the text converter portion 140 converts the voice data into text(S140). However, the process for converting the voice data inputtedthrough the microphone into the text is already known, and is put into apractical use thereof, as a technology, being collectively called,“Speech-to-Text”, in general.

Next, determination is made if the voice data can be converted into thetext or not (S141). If it can be converted into any kind of text, thecommand execution acceptance/denial determining portion 150 determinedthe acceptance/denial of executing the voice operation commandresponding to the text converted, by referring to the text converted andthe in-running operation acceptance/denial list 220 (S150).

Next, determination is made if the acceptance/denial of executiondetermined is “acceptance” or not (S151), and if the voice operationcommand can be executed responding to the text converted, the commandidentifier 222, which is described in the in-running operationacceptance/denial list 220, is transmitted to the application controllerportion 110, and the application controller portion 110 executes theprocess of pushing down of the button corresponding to the commandidentifier 222 (S111).

In case where the conversion cannot be made from the voice data into thetext in the step S141 mentioned above, or where the execution of thecommand corresponding to the text converted is determined “denial” inS151, the screen display portion 120 displays an error screen on thedisplay deice 26 (S121).

Next, explanation will be given on the details of the step S150, i.e., aprocess for determining command execution acceptance/denial, byreferring to FIG. 13.

The command execution acceptance/denial determining portion 150, firstof all, searches the in-running operation acceptance/denial list 220(S1501), and also searches if there is a line, in which the textconverted from the voice data is coincident with the command title 221of the in-running operation acceptance/denial list 220 (S1502). However,this determination of coincidence may be made under the condition thatboth the character lines are restrictively coincident with, or may bemade under the condition that one of the character line is included inthe other character line, or may be applied a mechanism therein, fordetermining likeliness or similarity between two (2) character linesthrough a conventional method, such as, “N-gram”, etc. Further, the“N-gram” is a method for determining the likeliness of the characterlines, which is applied in a search engine, etc., and is for determiningthe degree of the likeliness by counting a number of coincidences ofcontinuous “N” pieces of characters.

In case where it is determined that there is a line, in which the textconverted the command title 221 are coincident with, through such themethod as mentioned above, a running condition is obtained by means ofthe running condition obtaining portion 182 (S1503), and it isdetermined if the vehicle is under the condition of running or not, byreferring to the running condition obtained (S1504). However, if thevehicle is in running or not is determined, by obtaining a vehiclesignal, such as, a vehicle speed pulse or the like from the vehiclesignal line 40 of the system of the vehicle, in general, in theconventional car navigation, then the determination is made withapplying the similar method, in the voice recognizing system accordingto the present embodiment.

And, if it is determined that the vehicle is in running, determinationis made if it can be operated or not, during the time when the vehicleis running, by referring the operation acceptance/denial 223 in theline, which is searched out in the step S1502 (S1505).

If the operation is possible, the command identifier 222 of that line isnotified to the application controller portion 110 (S1506). However, inthe similar manner to that, when it is determined that the vehicle isnot in running in S1504 mentioned above, the command identifier 222 isnotified to the application controller portion 110, and the process iscompleted.

In case where there is no line, in which the text converted and thecommand title 221 of the in-running operation acceptance/denial list 220are coincident with, then it is determined there is no commandexecutable, and the process is ended (S1507). Also, when it isdetermined that in-running operation cannot be made in S1505 mentionedabove, and then determination is made on whether the application 500 isauthenticated or not, as a special application, being allowed to beoperated during the running of the vehicle (S1509), and if it is theauthenticated application, S1506 is executed irrespective of the contentof the in-running operation acceptance/denial list. However, with themeans for identifying it is the authenticated application or not, thiscan be achieved by a means, for example, giving a digital signature,upon basis of a public key encoding technology, to the application, etc.If the application 500 is not such a special one authenticated, theprocess is ended, while determining that there is a commandcorresponding to the content, which the user speaks, but cannot beexecuted during the time when the vehicle is running (S1508).

In this manner, in case of the authenticated application, operationsrelating to the applications for dealing with the car navigation, forexample, can be always executed, irrespective of the running conditionof the vehicle, always.

Next, explanation will be given on a user interface relating to thevoice operations, by referring to FIGS. 14A and 14B.

A popup message 1231 shown in FIG. 14A is an example of messages whennotifying the user that there is no executable command, after executingthe step S1507.

Also, a popup message 1232 shown in FIG. 14B is an example of messageswhen notifying the user that there is an executable commandcorresponding to the content, which the user speaks, but cannot beexecuted during the time when the vehicle is running, after executingthe step S1508.

Any one of those popup messages is automatically closed, after beingdisplayed for a predetermine time-period, such as, about 10 seconds, forexample, for reducing the load of operation of the user.

Next, explanation will be given on a process for obtaining therestriction rule and the inhibited word list, which are referred, fromthe policy distributing server, by referring to FIGS. 15 and 16.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart for showing a flow of processes for obtaining arestriction rule 230 from the policy distributing server 300, in a firstembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart for showing a flow of processes for obtaining aninhibited word list 230 a from the policy distributing server 300.

When the onboard apparatus 100 is started, as is shown in FIG. 15, thepolicy information renewal portion 160 obtains the equipment ID from theequipment ID obtaining portion 184 (S1601). And, the equipment IDobtained, being included in the policy information obtaining request270, is transmitted to the area determining portion 320, passing throughthe restriction rule selector portion 310 of the policy distributingserver 300. The area determining portion 320 determines if there is aline, in which the equipment ID received and the equipment ID 251 of theequipment information database 250 are coincident with, by referring tothe equipment information database 250 (S3201).

If there is the line, in which they are coincident with, an area wherethe onboard apparatus 100 is positioned is obtained by referring to thearea 252, which is described in that line (S3202).

Next, the restriction rule obtaining portion 330 determines if there isthe restriction rule 230 for use of the area or not, on which thedetermination is made, by referring to the restriction rule database 230a (S3301).

If there is the restriction rule 230, that restriction rule 230 isobtained from the restriction rule database 230 a (S3302), and isnoticed to the restriction rule selector portion 310.

On the other hand, if there cannot be found the line coincident with theequipment ID received in the step S3201, or if there is no restrictionrule for use of the area determined, in the step S3301, the restrictionrule selector portion 310 selects a default rule (S3101).

The restriction rule selector portion 310 responds the restriction rule230, which is obtained in the step S3302 or the step S3101, to thepolicy information renewal portion 160 (S3102).

The policy information renewal portion 160 records the restriction rule230 received in the policy information recording portion 192, therebycompleting the process (S1602). However, in the processes mentionedabove, when an error occurs in a series of processes for obtaining therestriction rule, the default rule is selected; but, a popup message maybe displayed, for prompting the user to step the operation of theonboard apparatus 100, when the error is generated.

When the onboard apparatus 100 is started, as is shown in FIG. 16, thepolicy information renewal portion 160 obtains the user ID from the userID obtaining portion 183 (S1605).

The user ID obtained, being included in the policy information obtainingrequest 270, is transmitted to the used language determining portion350, passing through the inhibited word list selector portion 340 of thepolicy distributing server 300.

The used language determining portion 350 determines if there is a line,in which the user ID received and the user ID 261 of the userinformation database 260 are coincident with, by referring to the userinformation database 260 (S3501).

If there is the line, in which they are coincident with, the languageused the user is determined, which is indicated by the user ID received,by referring to the used language 262, which is described in that line(S3502).

Next, the inhibited word list obtaining portion 360 determines if thereis the inhibited word list 240 or not, which is described by the usedlanguage determined, by referring to the inhibited word list database240 a (S3601).

If there is the inhibited word list 240, that inhibited word list 240 isobtained from the inhibited word list database 240 a (S3602), and isnoticed to the inhibited word list selector portion 340.

The inhibited word list selector portion 340 responds the inhibited wordlist 240 obtained to the policy information renewal portion 160 (S3402).

The policy information renewal portion 160 records the inhibited wordlist 240 received into the policy information recording portion 192,thereby completing the process (S1607).

On the other hand, if the language used by the user cannot be determinedcorresponding to the user ID received, in the step S3501, or if there isno inhibited ward list for use of the used language determined, in thestep S3601, the inhibited word list selector portion 340 responds anerror of obtaining the inhibited word list to the policy informationrenewal portion 160 (S3401).

The policy information renewal portion 160, receiving the error ofobtaining the inhibited word list, displays an error message on thescreen display portion 120 (S1606).

Next, explanation will be given on the user interface when obtaining thepolicy information for the voice operation, by referring to FIG. 17.

FIG. 17 is a view for showing an example of the popup message whenobtaining the policy information for the voice operation.

In a step S3401, if there is necessity of informing the user of afailure in obtaining the inhibited word list, such a popup message as isshown in FIG. 17 is displayed.

However, in the explanation given in the above, the information of thearea where the onboard apparatus 100 exists in advance, for selectingthe restriction rule 230; however, there may be applied a mechanism forobtaining the coordinates of a present location of the onboard apparatus100, with applying a GPS (Global Positioning System, and therebydetermining the area with referring it to map data. Also, in thisexample, the used language of the user is recorded in the database, inadvance, for the purpose of selecting the inhibited word list 240;however there may be applied a mechanism of referring to the informationof the used language that the user set in the onboard apparatus 100,etc.

As was mentioned in the above, with the voice operating system of thepresent embodiment, it is possible to restrict the operation, which isnot desirable during the time when the vehicle is running, when theapplication operable on the onboard apparatus 100 is operated throughthe voices. Also, with applying the mechanism of distributing the policyinformation for achieving such restriction from the policy informationdistributing apparatus, it is possible to revise a guideline for eachcountry or to deal with addition of word(s) meaning the operation(s) tobe restricted, etc., flexibly.

<Embodiment 2>

Hereinafter, explanation will be given on the voice operating system,according to a second embodiment of the present invention, by referringone of FIGS. 18 to 21.

The voice operating system according to the present embodiment restrictsexecuting of the operation not preferable to be executed during the timethe vehicle is running, similar to the first embodiment, when operatingthe application through the voices, being executable on a portable ormobile telephone terminal, such as, the Smartphone, etc., which israpidly spread in recent years.

First of all, explanation will be given on the configuration of thevoice operating system according to the second embodiment of the presentinvention, by referring to one of FIGS. 18 to 20.

FIG. 18 is a total configuration view of the voice operating system,according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a hardware configuration view of the portable (mobile)telephone terminal.

FIG. 20 is a view for showing dataflow and functional configuration ofthe portable (mobile) telephone terminal and the onboard apparatus,according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

As is shown in FIG. 18, in the voice operating system according to thepresent embodiment, the mobile telephone terminal 20 is connected withthe onboard apparatus 100 a within the vehicle 30, and the mobiletelephone terminal 20 communicates between the policy distributingserver 300 of the global network 50 through the wireless communicationbetween the base station 70.

Other constituent elements other than those shown in FIG. 18 are similarto those shown in FIG. 1.

Herein, the mobile telephone terminal 20 is a mobile telephone terminal,such as, the Smartphone, etc., which can be carried about by the user,and the onboard apparatus 100 a is a car navigation apparatus.

Next, explanation will be given on the hardware configuration of themobile telephone terminal 20 according to the second embodiment of thepresent invention, by referring to FIG. 19.

As is shown in FIG. 19, the mobile telephone terminal 20 is constructedwith an APU (Application Processor Unit) 80, a baseband processor 81, aRAM 82, a flash memory 83, a wireless communication interface 84, apositioning sensor 85, an acceleration sensor 86, a gyro sensor 87, adisplay device 88, an operating device 89, an inter-equipmentcommunication interface 90, a camera 91, a microphone 92 and a speaker93.

The APU 80 is a unit for controlling each portion of the mobiletelephone terminal 20, and for calculation/control, i.e., for executingprograms of application software for the voice operation to be loaded onthe RAM 81.

The baseband processor 81 is a processor for controlling a modulerelating to communication and/or conversation of the mobile telephoneterminal 20.

The RAM (Read Access Memory) 82 is a memory device for storing theprogram memorized in the flash memory 83, temporality, after loading it,or for memorizing work data therein.

The flash memory 82 is a non-volatile memory for storing programs and/ordata therein. The flash memory 82 is a memory device having a relativelylarge capacity, for memorizing therein various kinds of data, such as, amap DB, a policy information DB 280, voice data, moving picture data,etc., and also programs, such as, the application software for the voiceoperation, etc.

The wireless communication interface 84 is an interface apparatus forconverting a signal of the baseband processor 81 into a high-frequencysignal of a radio band, and on the contrary for converting thehigh-frequency signal of the radio band into the signal of the basebandprocessor 81. The mobile telephone terminal 20 communicates between thebase station 70 through the wireless communication interface 84, andthis enable reading of a Web page through browser. As the radio band isnormally used a UHF (Ultra High Frequency).

The positioning sensor 85 is a sensor for measuring the position ofitself, which is indicted by the latitude and the longitude on theglobe.

The acceleration sensor 86 is a sensor for measuring an acceleration ofthe mobile telephone terminal 20. With this, also the acceleration ofthe vehicle 30, on which the mobile telephone terminal 20 is mounted,can be measured, indirectly.

The gyro sensor 87 is a sensor for measuring an angle and/or an angularvelocity of the mobile telephone terminal 20. With this, also the angleand/or the angular velocity of the vehicle 30 can be measured,indirectly.

The display device 88 is a device made of a liquid crystal display or anorganic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, etc., for displaying videoinformation to the user, and may be applied one having a display sizefrom 3 inches to 5 inches, normally.

The operating device 89 is devices for the user to operate the mobiletelephone terminal 20 by her/his finger, such as, a button, a switch, akeyboard, a touch panel, etc.

The inter-equipment communication interface 90 is an interface apparatusfor connecting with other apparatuses, such as, the onboard apparatus100 a, to communicate data between it/them. As a connecting method maybe a wired connection, in accordance with a rule of USB (UniversalSerial Bus) or HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), etc., or maybe a wireless connection, in accordance with IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n ofwireless LAN (Local Area Network) or Bluetooth (®), etc.

The camera 91 an optical apparatus for taking pictures therein throughphotographing the environment of the mobile telephone terminal 20.

The microphone 92 is a device for colleting speeches of the user orvoices/sounds of surrounding the mobile telephone terminal 20.

The speaker 93 is a device for transmitting information to the userthrough voices/sounds. However, though not shown in the figure, also anearphone or a headphone or the like may be applied as a voice/soundoutputting device.

Next, explanation will be given on the dataflow and the functionconfiguration of the mobile telephone terminal 20 and the onboardapparatus 100 a, by referring to FIG. 20.

The onboard apparatus 100 a comprises, as is shown in FIG. 20, anequipment ID obtaining portion 884, a running condition obtainingportion 882, a video receiver portion 885, a screen display portion 820and a communication portion 875.

The mobile telephone terminal 20 is constructed with, as is shown inFIG. 20, an application controller portion 110, a video transmitterportion 185, an in-running operation acceptance/denial list producerportion 130, an in-running operation acceptance/denial list recordingportion 191, a voice input portion 181, a text converter portion 140, acommand execution acceptance/denial determining portion 150, a user IDobtaining portion 183, a policy information renewal portion 160, apolicy information recording portion 192, and a communication portion170.

Herein, in comparison with the configuration of the onboard apparatus100 of the first embodiment, while removing therefrom the equipment IDobtaining portion 184, the running condition obtaining portion 182 andthe screen display portion 120, which are equipped with on the firstembodiment, however, the followings are added thereto; a videotransmitter portion 185, a running condition memory portion 186 and acommunication portion 175 for conducting communication between theonboard apparatus 100 a.

The video transmitter portion 185, which is added into the mobiletelephone terminal 20, is added in the place of the screen displayportion 120, which is equipped with on the information processingapparatus 100 of the embodiment 1, and it is provided for transmittingthe screen of the application, which is displayed on the display device26 through the screen display portion 120, as the video data, in theonboard apparatus 100 of the first embodiment. The video receiverportion 885 of the onboard apparatus 100 a is provided for receivingthis video data, and the video data received is displayed on the displaydevice 88 through the screen display portion 820. Those videotransmitter portion 185 and the video receiver portion 885 are fordisplaying output video of the mobile telephone terminal 20 (i.e., theSmartphone) on the screen of the onboard apparatus 100 a (i.e., the carnavigation apparatus), with applying a technology, for example,displaying an output video of a video camera on the screen of atelevision by connecting the video camera and the television though aHDMI cable, etc.

The running condition memory portion 186 of the mobile telephoneterminal 20 of the present embodiment is provided for memorizing therunning condition, which is periodically received from the onboardapparatus 100 a.

The equipment ID obtaining portion 884, being equipped with on theonboard apparatus 100 a of the present embodiment, has a functionsimilar to that of the equipment ID obtaining portion 184, which isequipped with on the onboard apparatus 100 of the first embodiment, andis provided for notifying the equipment ID, i.e., the information foridentifying the onboard apparatus 100 a, to the policy informationrenewal portion 160, through the communication portion 875 and thecommunication portion 175.

The running condition obtaining portion 882, being equipped by theonboard apparatus of the present embodiment, is provided for obtainingthe running condition of the vehicle, similar to that of the runningcondition obtaining portion 182, which is equipped with on the onboardapparatus 100 of the first embodiment, and is for notifying it to therunning condition memory portion 186 of the mobile telephone terminal20, through the communication portion 875 and the communication portion175.

An operation image of the application 500 is similar to that of theapplication 500 in the first embodiment, which is shown in FIG. 8. Alsowith the processes, for producing the in-running operationacceptance/denial list 220, which are executed in the informationprocessing apparatus 100, when the screen 122 of the application 500 isdisplayed through pushdown of the moving picture viewing/listeningbutton 1212 on the menu screen 121 by the user, they are similar tothose of the flow of the processes of the onboard apparatus 100 in thefirst embodiment, which are shown in one of FIGS. 9 to 11.

Also, with the flow of processes for executing the operation through thevoices, though pushdown of the voice operation starting button 1214 onthe screen 122 by the user, they are basically similar to the flow ofthe processes of the onboard apparatus 100 in the first embodiment,which are shown in one of FIGS. 12 to 14B. However, in the presentembodiment, obtaining of the running condition in S1503 shown in FIG. 13is conducted by referring to the running condition, which is memorizedin the running condition memory portion 186 of the mobile telephoneterminal 20.

Next, explanation will be given on processes for obtaining therestriction rule and the inhibited word list referred to from the policydistributing server, by referring to FIG. 21.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart for showing a flow of processes for obtaining therestriction rule 230 from the policy distributing server 300, in thesecond embodiment of the present invention.

Although the basic flow is similar to the flow of processes shown inFIG. 15, according to the first embodiment, but the step S1601 forobtaining the equipment ID in FIG. 15 is removed therefrom, and theobtaining of the equipment ID is achieved by transmitting the equipmentID obtaining request to the equipment ID obtaining portion 884 of theonboard apparatus 100 a, so as to receive the equipment ID of theonboard apparatus 100 a from the equipment ID obtaining portion 884.Processes thereafter are similar to those of the flow of processes shownin FIG. 15.

As was shown in the present embodiment in the above, it is possible torestrict the operation, which is undesired to be executed during thetime when the vehicle is running, when the application of the mobiletelephone terminal, such as, the Smartphone, etc., is operated throughthe voices, even in a mode of using the mobile telephone terminal, suchas, the Smartphone, etc., while displaying an execution screen of theapplication, which is operated on the mobile telephone terminal, suchas, the Smartphone, etc., on the screen of the car navigation apparatus.

<Embodiment 3>

Hereinafter, explanation will be given on the voice operating systemaccording to a third embodiment of the present invention, by referringto FIGS. 22 and 23.

FIG. 22 is a total configuration view of the voice operating system,according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a view for showing dataflow and functional configuration ofthe portable (mobile) telephone terminal and the onboard apparatus,according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

Also in the voice operating system of the present embodiment, similar tothat of the second embodiment, the execution of operation, beingundesirable to be executed during the time when the vehicle is running,is restricted, when the application is operated through the voices,which can be executed on the mobile telephone terminal, such as, theSmartphone, etc., widely spreading, rapidly, in recent years. However,the second embodiment is in a mode of being applied while displaying anoutput video of the mobile telephone terminal, such as, the Smartphone,etc., on the screen of the car navigation apparatus, but comparing tothe above, in the present embodiment, there is assumed a mode, i.e.,using the mobile telephone terminal, such as, the Smartphone, etc.,while setting it on a driver's seat with using a cradle.

Also the entire configuration view of the voice operating systemaccording to the present embodiment, as is shown in FIG. 22, is similarto that of the second embodiment, i.e., the mobile telephone terminal 20a and the onboard apparatus 100 b are connected with, in the structuresthereof; however, differing from in an aspect in that, not the mobiletelephone terminal, but rater the onboard apparatus 100 b communicatesbetween the policy distributing server through the base station 70.

Hereinafter, explanation will be given on the dataflow and the functionconfiguration of the mobile telephone terminal according to the presentembodiment, mainly about the difference from the first embodiment.

In the entire configuration of the present embodiment, a mobiletelephone terminal 20 a is added therein, comparing to the entireconfiguration of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 4. The mobiletelephone terminal 20 a comprises an application controller portion 910,a screen display portion 920 and a communication portion 977 forconducting communication between the onboard apparatus 100 b.

On the other hand, the onboard apparatus 100 b does not include theapplication controller portion 110 and the screen display portion 120,comparing to that of the first embodiment, but a communication portion177 is added thereto, for communicating between the mobile telephoneterminal 20 a.

The application controller portion 910 and the screen display portion920, equipped with on the mobile telephone terminal 20 a, correspond tothe application controller portion 110 and the screen display portion120 in the onboard apparatus 100 of the first embodiment, respectively.Thus, the difference from the first embodiment lies in that an apparatusequipped with the application controller portion 110 and the screendisplay portion 120 is separated from, as a function of the mobiletelephone terminal 20 a. In addition to such separation, they areconstructed so that the communication process to be conducted betweenthe onboard apparatus 100 b and the mobile telephone terminal 20 a isconducted through the communication portion 177 and the communicationportion 977, i.e., including the process for transmitting the commandlist 210 from the application controller portion 910 to the in-runningoperation acceptance/denial list producer portion 130, the process fortransmitting the in-running operation acceptance/denial list 220 fromthe in-running operation acceptance/denial list producer portion 130 tothe application controller portion 910, and the process for transmittingthe command identifier from the command execution acceptance/denialdetermining portion 150 to the application controller portion 110.

As was shown in the present embodiment, it is possible to restrict theoperation, which is undesired to be executed during the time when thevehicle is running, when the application is operated through the voices,even in a mode of using the mobile telephone terminal, such as, theSmartphone, etc., while setting it on the driver's seat with using thecradle.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing system having aninformation processing apparatus to be mounted on a vehicle, and aserver in communication with the information processing apparatusthrough a network, the server comprising a server processor configuredto: determine a global location of said information processing apparatusduring operation; obtain a plurality of restriction rules eachindicating whether or not one of a plurality of operations is executableby the information processing apparatus in one of a pluralitygeographical areas; and select one of the plurality of restrictionrules, for transmission to said information processing apparatus,indicating whether or not an operation of the plurality of operations isexecutable by the information processing apparatus in a geographicalarea that includes the global location, said information processingapparatus comprising: memory configured to store an application; and aninformation apparatus processor configured to: execute the application;obtain a running condition of said vehicle indicating whether or notsaid vehicle is running; receive, from said server, the one restrictionrule indicating whether or not the operation is executable by theinformation processing apparatus in the geographical area that includesthe global location; and determine whether to accept or deny executingthe operation, for said application, according to said running conditionof said vehicle and said one restriction rule.
 2. The informationprocessing system of claim 1, wherein if the area which includes theglobal location is not determined, or if the one restriction rule is notobtained, the server select a default restriction rule to transmit tosaid information processing apparatus or transmits an error indicatingthe one restriction rule is not obtained.
 3. The information processingsystem of claim 1, wherein said information apparatus processor isfurther configured to transmit, to said server, information which isused to determine the area which includes the global location.
 4. Theinformation processing system of claim 3, wherein said information whichis used for determine the area which includes the global location isidentification information for identifying said information processingapparatus or position information which is obtained from a positioningsensor equipped with said vehicle.
 5. The information processing systemof claim 1, wherein said server processor is further configured to:determine a language used by a user of the information processingapparatus; obtain an inhibited word list for the used language; and aninhibited word list selector portion, which is configured to select theinhibited word list for transmission to said information processingapparatus, wherein said information processing apparatus receives theinhibited word list from said server, and wherein said server processoris further configured to determine whether to accept or deny executingthe operation of said application according to said inhibited word listin addition to said running condition of said vehicle and said onerestriction rule.
 6. The information processing system of claim 5,wherein if the language used by the user cannot be determined, or if theinhibited word list is not obtained, the server transmits an error, tosaid information processing apparatus, indicating the inhibited wordlist is not obtained.
 7. The information processing system of claim 5,wherein said information apparatus processor is further configured totransmit information, which is used for determine a language used by theuser, to said server.
 8. The information processing system of claim 7,wherein said information which is used to determine a language used bythe user is a user ID for identifying the user or information foridentifying a language which is set on said information processingapparatus.
 9. The information processing system of claim 5, wherein saidinformation apparatus processor is further configured to determinewhether to accept or deny executing an operation of said application bydetermining to deny executing the operation of said application in saidrunning condition of said vehicle, for each operation of saidapplication, when at least a part of a name indicating said operation isassociated with an inhibited word in said inhibited word list, and whenidentification information representing an inhibited word correspondswith identification information representing the operation which isrestricted from being executed during a time when said vehicle isrunning.
 10. An information processing method for an informationprocessing system having an information processing apparatus to bemounted on a vehicle, and in communication with a server whichdetermines a global location of said information processing apparatusduring operation, obtains a plurality of restriction rules eachindicating whether or not one of a plurality of operations is executableby the information processing apparatus in one of a pluralitygeographical areas and selects one of the plurality of restriction rulesfor transmission to said information processing apparatus, indicatingwhether or not an operation of the plurality of operations is executableby the information processing apparatus in a geographical area thatincludes the global location, said method comprising: executing, by aninformation apparatus processor, an application; obtaining a runningcondition of said vehicle indicating whether said vehicle is running;receiving, from said server, the one restriction rule indicating whetheror not the operation is executable by the information processingapparatus in the geographical area that includes the global location;and determining whether to accept or deny executing an operation of saidapplication according to said running condition of said vehicle and saidone restriction rule.
 11. The information processing method of claim 10,if the area which includes the global location is not determined, or ifthe one restriction rule is not obtained the server select a defaultrestriction rule to transmit to said information processing apparatus ortransmits an error indicating that the one restriction rule is notobtained.
 12. The information processing method of claim 10, furthercomprising, transmitting, by said information processing apparatus,information to said server which is used to determine the area whichincludes the global location.
 13. The information processing method ofclaim 12, wherein said information which is used for determine the areawhich includes the global location is identification information foridentifying said information processing apparatus or positioninformation which is obtained from a positioning sensor equipped withsaid vehicle.
 14. The information processing method of claim 10, whereinsaid server, determines a language used by the user; obtains theinhibited word list for the used language; and selects the inhibitedword list to transmit to said information processing apparatus, themethod further comprising receiving, by the information processingapparatus, the inhibited word list from said server, and determineswhether to accept or deny executing the operation of said applicationaccording to said inhibited word list, in addition to said runningcondition of said vehicle and said one restriction rule.
 15. Theinformation processing method of claim 14, wherein the method furthercomprises: if the language used by the user is not determined, or if theinhibited ward list is not obtained, transmitting, by said server, tosaid information processing apparatus, an error indicating the inhibitedword list is not obtained.
 16. The information processing method ofclaim 14, wherein said information processing apparatus transmits, tosaid server, information which is used to determine a language used bythe user.
 17. The information processing method of claim 16, whereinsaid information which is used to determine a language used by the useris a user ID for identifying user of said information processingapparatus or information for identifying a language which is set on saidinformation processing apparatus.
 18. The information processing methodof claim 14, wherein said information apparatus processor is furtherconfigured to determine whether to accept or deny executing an operationof said application by determining to deny executing the operation ofsaid application in said running condition of said vehicle, for eachoperation of said application, when at least a part of a name indicatingsaid operation is associated with an inhibited word in said inhibitedword list, and when identification information representing a inhibitedword corresponds with identification information representing theoperation which is restricted from being executed during the time whensaid vehicle is running.